Bräm Thüring

After graduating from college Thüring Bräm was educated in piano, conducting and composition in his birth town of Basel. He also studied musicology at the Universities of Basel and Heidelberg. He lived in the USA from 1970 until 1973 where he worked as a conductor and coach at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, at the Santa Fe Summer Opera, at Aspen Music Festival and studied at the University of California in Berkeley where he graduated with a Master of Arts degree in composition. He was head of the music school of the 'Musik-Akademie Basel' (Basel Academy of Music) from 1973 until 1987. Since 1987 he is director of the Lucerne Conservatory. He is active as a conductor in Switzerland and abroad.
During his years as a student the most crucial influences he received were from Anton Webern and Pierre Boulez (primarily as conductor and analyst). After visiting America he became more involved in improvisational music having been influenced by John Cage, during the mid eighties this became more structured music when he was using plain traditional material to produce new sound effects, for example in the Oratorio 'Litteri un Schattä - Lucie Ombre' or in the orchestral work 'Florestan und Eusebius'. He has received several important commissions and prizes for composition including from Pro Helvetia, the city of Basel, IMF (International Music Festival in Lucerne), Radio DRS, Danzig, BBC Singers, Edwin Fischer recognition prize, University of California and others. He has published and lectures as a guest.

Sechs Haikai (1969)for solo Soprano, chamber choir, string trio and vibraphoneTexts: Japanische TexteSix short Japanese three-liners. The choral part is on an advanced level but can be performed by good amateurs.Duration: 8' 00"

Au temps perdu (1976)for flute and string trioThe title plays with Prousts ‘A la recherche du temps perdu’. This through-composed piece requires flexibility due to improvisation-like parts. Satisfying for the flutist who plays on the background of an often noise like sliding sound carpet.Duration: 14' 00"

Drei Lieder (1978-1979)for mixed a-cappella choirTexts: Lajzer AjchenrandThese three songs, based on a text by Lajzer Ajchenrand, were composed for Eric Ericson and his chamber choir. Because of the high demands in rhythm and intonation, this piece is best suited to a very well schooled, at least semi-professional ensemble (min. sixteen solo singers or a large choir).Duration: 9' 00"

Children Songs of the American Indian (1979)for solo soprano, vocal ensemble (SATB), oboe, viola, violoncello, and marimbaphoneTexts: Indianische TexteThe Children Songs (which received a prize from the University of California in 1973) are a kind of half scenic cantata based on Indian text. Duration: 8' 00"

Album Goodbye Seventies (1979-1980) for clarinet or violin (or any other melodic instrument) and pianoThis cycle of seven pieces encompasses mostly notated memories: a (quasi) summary of the seventies. Where one movement requires the courage to improvise, another contains a sung alternative version.Duration: 17' 00"

Quiet Music I-III (1980-1981)for piano, flute, clarinet, oboe, violin and violoncelloNo. III is a markedly beautiful piece to commemorate Berios 'O King'. No. I and II are confined to the piano and a melodic instrument of choice.Duration: 8' 00"

Vier Lamenti (1984-1985)for pianoFour characteristic pieces. The last of which requires (in an ideal situation) grand rubber mutes in the piano but an alternative version can be played on the keys.Duration: 6' 00"

Streichquartett Nr. 1 (1987-1990)A very diversified and animated work with a large cello solo (Er-Innerung 4 1/2), which can also be played as an individual piece. A commission for the International Music Festival, Lucerne.Duration: 17' 00"

Three Pictures of Georgia o'Keeffe (1991)for violin and percussionA rewarding piece for a new genre: violin and percussion (uses instruments: flexatone, vibraphone, bongos, woodblock). Based on the pictures by the American painter: Two Jimson Weeds, The Winter Road, Red Poppies.Duration: 8' 00"

Streichquartett Nr. 2 LITANIA (1992)LITANIAIn one movement. A harmonic work in memory of Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach, with a solo viola part (cadenza), which can be performed as an individual piece.Duration: 13' 00"

4 Stücke aus Krajiny Snu ("Traumlandschaften") (1992)for piano trioThe ‘Traumlandschaften’ for piano trio is in four short movements and corresponds approximately to the solo parts of the same concert for piano trio and chamber orchestra.Duration: 7' 00"

Torrenieri (1992)for horn solo and string orchestraThis piece, written for the Lucerne Festival Strings, can be easily introduced into a 'normal' string orchestra programme. It does, however, require great solo skills from the horn player.Duration: 6' 15"

Krajiny Snu (1992)for piano trio, chamber orchestra (2.2.2.2/2.2.0.0/str) and one crotaleThe title 'Krajiny Snu' means 'dreamlandscape' and represents shreds of the composers associations with his work as a conductor from 1985 to 1995 in Pardubice. This work, originally dedicated to the 'Guarnieri Trio', Prague and the Pardubice Chamber Phillharmonic, enriches the category of concert for piano and orchestra.Duration: 17' 00"

"Im Atemhaus" (1991-1993)Three liederfor female a-cappella choir (SSAA)Texts: Anna Katharina von GreiffenbergWritten for the ‘Vepatechor’. In addition to the through-composed Baroque text from Anna Katharina von Greiffenberg it contains a middle part without text, which evokes the title of the poem ‘Im Atemhaus’ by Rose Ausländer. This part (in space notation) requires flexibility in respect to rhythm and metricity.Duration: 14' 00"

Piccoli Madrigali (1996)for mixed a-cappella choirTexts: Anna Maria BacherThe ten a-cappella songs based on the Italian version of poems by Anna Maria Bacher are derived from the oratorium ‘Litteri un Schattä / Luci e ombre’. They can be performed separately. They are linear, melodic and varied in form.Duration: 17' 00"

A Cradle Song (1996)for mixed choir (twenty four-part, six per SATB with a minimum of sixteen voices)Texts: William BlakeA work dedicated to the BBC Singers. Blake's plain but simultaneously complex text is translated into simple musical choir language representing the 'fin de siècle' of the 20th century. The work requires particular professionalism in regard to the intonation.Duration: 9' 00"

Streichquartett Nr. 3 "als Zuschauer am Rande des grossen Festes" (1997-1998)'as an onlooker on the outskirts of a large celebration''As an onlooker on the outskirts of a large celebration' (therein adagio (4’) for string orchestra, for the 80th birthday of Rudolf Baumgartner). Striking piece in four movements with extremely quiet and kinetically excited parts.
A version for string orchestra is also available.

Florestan und Eusebius (1997-1998)for orchestra (3.3(poss.4).3.3(poss.4)/4.2.2.0/timp.2perc.echopiano.cymbalom/hp/str)Commissioned by the Basel Academy of Music. Variations on the choral from the ‘Album für die Jugend’ by Robert Schumann. This piece is relatively simple on the technical side and achieves differentiated sound effects through a spatial distribution of groups. Duration: 16' 00"

Cartoons (1998)for violin and double-bassA cycle of seven very different (not always serious) pieces, which narrate in a similar way to a picture story. It is possible to play certain parts separately. Duration: 15' 00"